Commercial aircraft make extensive use of systems to plan and execute flights, control the aircraft, and manage a number of other aircraft operations. For example, such systems may include a flight management system (FMS) that generates flight plans with lateral segments and vertical segments to a destination. The flight plans may include details about the appropriate speeds, altitudes, and location during ascent, cruising, and descent modes of a flight. Particularly, the flight plans require the aircraft to be at a certain speed and altitude at a specified lateral position, and the FMS determines the most effective mechanisms for complying with these parameters.
Some modern air traffic systems also include a timing requirement such that the aircraft is expected to be at a designated speed, altitude, and location at a particular time. Given the already complex considerations of flight planning, as well as the uncertainty associated with implementing such planning, conventional aircraft systems may find the timing or other accuracy requirements to be challenging.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide improved systems and methods for controlling the flight of an aircraft, particularly during descent with respect to speed, altitude, location, and time constraints. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description of the invention and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background of the invention.